Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #271 (1981)
by Gerry Conway & Jim James
We continue the Dark Man storyline from the previous issue, but Shrinking Violet must’ve found the story boring because despite being in the earlier parts she doesn’t show up for this one.
The previous issue ended with the cliffhanger of Timber Wolf getting the drop on Dark Man… and it doesn’t last.
Emerald Empress doesn’t have the same luck with Light Lass. I don’t doubt that the Legionnaire can find a way to escape, but this is pretty dumb… the Eye is not Validus, why does it attack randomly?
Saturn Girl is the one to turn the tide by mind-controlling Tharok into releasing her teammates, because Saturn Girl is the best.
Meanwhile Light Lass discovers the origin of Dark Man by examining one of the computers on Dark Man’s ship. It ties into Tharok’s own origin, where half of his body was disintegrated after a botched attempt to steal a weapon.
Turns out Dark Man is actually a clone of Tharok’s brain (????) who then made himself a full body by mind-controlling a scientist into cloning a full body. That’s neat, but a bit unnecessarily convoluted.
Sorry, my bad, Dark Man is also a vampire. (????)
While this is going on, the last Legionnaires still imprisoned are saved by the Fatal Five. Now that’s something you don’t see every day!
Awww, they actually do care for each other!
All the various allies reach Dark Man’s ship, and… dammit Light Lass, you were just starting to be a good character, now is not the time to revert to the damsel in distress!
Timber Wolf is having a hard time overcoming Dark Man’s vaguely defined powers.
…but it’s Blok, of all people, to help take out Dark Man. By making him fall off a tree.
What the… HOW do Tharok and Dark Man disintegrate when they touch!? It’s not like one of them was made of antimatter or something!!!
And so we end with Colossal Boy’s mother being elected President of Earth.
Yeah, despite all the effort of freeing the various Legionnaires and put them in the same place, ultimately it was completely pointless.
Legion significance: 4/10
Block’s help is supposedly important for him to be offered the membership next issue, and Colossal Boy’s mother being President will have some relevance… but not that much.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
No, seriously, why do Tharok and Dark Man explode again?
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
What a disappointing finale. Admittedly I didn’t care that much for Dark Man, but he had some potential. But his origin is nothing spectacular, his demise makes little sense, and the Legionnaires don’t get to do all that much aside from Saturn Girl and to a much lesser extent Timber Wolf.
We are legion
21 Legionnaires
6 reserve members
1 on sick leave (Matter-Eater Lad)